This invention relates to a technique for managing a plurality of data storage apparatuses of a computer system, or in particular to a technique for managing the data storage apparatuses hierarchically connected.
With the increase in the amount of digital data held by companies, a storage area network for connecting the data storage apparatuses to each other or data storage apparatuses to a computer by an exclusive network (mainly fiber channel) has come to spread. In order to efficiently manage the data ever on the increase, on the other hand, a technique is available in which the storage areas of a plurality of data storage apparatuses are virtualized and supplied to a computer as one or a plurality of virtual storage areas.
As shown in JP-A-2005-208967, for example, a plurality of data storage apparatuses are hierarchized and connected to a computer. In a computer system having the data storage apparatuses in hierarchical configuration, a given data storage apparatus can virtualize the storage area of another data storage apparatus and supply it to the computer as one or a plurality of virtual storage areas. In the case where the operation is performed to change the configuration of the data storage apparatuses such as to delete the storage area supplied by a data storage apparatus in this system, a manager is required to recognize the particular configuration. This is by reason of the fact that assuming that the manager deletes the storage area of a lower data storage apparatus without recognizing the hierarchical configuration of the data storage apparatuses, for example, the storage area of an upper data storage apparatus hierarchically related to the particular lower data storage apparatus may also be deleted. In this computer system having the data storage apparatuses having a hierarchical configuration, a technique is provided to prevent the manager from performing the erroneous operation on a storage area without recognizing the hierarchical configuration of the data storage apparatuses.
The methods of managing the data storage apparatuses include a method, like JP-A-2005-208967, in which an exclusive console provided by software or a program installed in advance in a management computer is used by the manager to manage the data storage apparatuses, and a method in which the manager manages the data storage apparatuses using an individual console of a management computer not installed with the particular software or program without an exclusive console provided by the software or the program.
According to the technique of JP-A-2005-208967, the manager engaged in managing the data storage apparatuses from a console supplied by an exclusive software or program for management of the data storage apparatuses can be informed of the hierarchical relation of the data storage apparatuses and therefore can prevent the erroneous operation on the storage area which otherwise might be caused by the failure to recognize the hierarchical configuration of the storage areas on the part of the manager.